Kildare judge criticises court service for error which identified defendant in sensitive case

A Kildare judge criticised the court service for an error on the court list presented before Naas District Court on Thursday, March 16 which identified a defendant.

Judge Desmond Zaidan made the comments during a case in which he previously imposed reporting restrictions on.

The defendant was accused of committing a number of serious offences over a number of dates between 2000 and 2021 in counties Kildare and Dublin.

The man’s defending solicitor brought up the issue of the man’s name appearing on the list, which Judge Zaidan also took issue with.

The solicitor also said that the length of the court case and the nature of the allegations have been causing him 'a lot of stress.'

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The judge also recommended the solicitor to write to the court service to voice his frustration over the error, but later backtracked and insisted that he would deal with the matter himself.

The case will return to Naas Courthouse on a different date, which is when a book of evidence is due to be presented.

Judge Zaidan remanded the accused on continuing bail until this date.

FURTHER COMPLAINTS

The judge also complained on the date in question about a prison which did not answer the court’s phone call to facilitate a video-link court session for a defendant.

"I will not have a lack of resources compromising the court cases before me," he said.

Judge Zaidan added that he would consider striking out court cases if this happened again.